If “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” does it matter what names we have? Rafael Cruz thinks so. He is better known by his nickname, Ted Cruz, the 2016 presidential candidate from Texas who prefers a stereotypically Anglo name, Ted,…
Blog Archives
Artificial intelligence will dominate more and more of society. Will it be racist and sexist?
Brian Resnick explains research that our systems of artificial intelligence have learned to perpetuate racism and sexism just like people do. “Many people think machines are not biased,” Princeton computer scientist Aylin Caliskan says. “But machines are trained on human…
Racial and gender politics influence Fed governance
The Center for Popular Democracy’s “Fed Up” campaign inspired a letter from Elizabeth Warren and 11 senators and 111 members of the House of Representatives to increase diversity at the Fed. They complain that: Currently, 92 percent of regional Bank presidents are white,…
Posted in Discrimination, Macro
Noblesse Oblige
Spider-man has often spoken the moral principle that power brings responsibility. Clint Hamada CC BY NC This moral principle is rarely taught in moral philosophy, but it is an important idea that was the basis for the principle of noblesse…
Posted in Discrimination
How Americans sabotage welfare programs
Joseph Stromberg wrote an explainer about why the US has worse public transit than any other rich nation in the world despite providing greater subsidies per rider. It isn’t just because the US is more spread-out or more enthusiastic about…
Posted in Discrimination
Pew Stokes Racial Tensions While Median Wealth Stagnates
Yesterday the Pew Research Center released analysis based on new Fed data that shows that median black net worth is less than it was thirty years ago. Median net worth for whites has grown an average of about 1% over…
Lies (or Stupidity), Damned Lies (or Stupidity), and Statistics
A family member who has a history of opposition to efforts to reduce racial discrimination emailed me an article by Paul Sperry entitled, “Eric Holder believes all cops are racists…” Sperry claims that Holder’s efforts to reduce unconscious racial bias have…
Medianism 